The ongoing saga of the ICAC newspaper raids has reached a farcial stage. The Court of Appeal handed down what can only be considered a perplexing judgement. The Court decided it had no jurisdtiction because the case should have been lodged in the Court of Final Appeal instead, as it was a civil matter nota criminal one. Normally that would have been the end of the judgement. But not this time. Instead they then went on to actual deliver what their judgement would have been:

...the judges added: "Had this court possessed the necessary jurisdiction, the appeal would have been allowed with costs.''

Speaking on behalf of the three, Justice Geoffrey Ma said: "I am satisfied that the ICAC acted entirely lawfully in seeking the search warrants in this case. The freedom of the press in the present case must be seen against the fact that serious crimes may well have been committed.''

ICAC now has the option of appealing to the Court of Final Appeal and no dobut they will, being emboldened by the pat on the back by the Court of Appeal. That means even more HK taxpayer money wasted. Before they did they need to ask their legal team some serious questions. The first one should be why the hell they launched the first appeal in the wrong court. I'd be interested in the answer.